from the good-for-them dept

While some of the Big 6 studios have been incredibly anti-Redbox, Viacom's Paramount has always been the most reasonable towards the DVD-rental kiosk provider. So it really comes as little surprise that Paramount has announced that, after testing delayed movie releases through Redbox it sees absolutely no reason to keep delaying such releases and instead will offer new release movies on Redbox at the same time the DVD goes on sale:

"There were two conclusions we came to," said Dennis Maguire, president of Paramount Home Entertainment. "There hasn't been a cannibalization of DVD sales from Redbox, and Redbox was allowing us to expand our business and ultimately make more money" than if the studio held back its DVDs to Redbox for a period of time.

Of course, this is exactly what many people said when studios like Warner Bros., Universal and Fox demanded the 28 day release, but it's nice to at least see Paramount actually looking at the data and realizing that Redbox isn't the evil destroyer of Hollywood that some of its competitors have made it out to be.

Reader Comments

Double standard?

So I was at a local grocery store yesterday, and I noticed a $1 DVD rental kiosk. At first I thought it was a Redbox kiosk, but the colors weren't right. I took a closer look, and it was actually a Blockbuster Video rental Kiosk renting DVDs for $1, just like Redbox.

Of course, I think the 28 day delay that the studios have on Redbox is ridiculous, but if they are imposing the delay on Redbox, shouldn't they also be imposing the delay on Blockbuster now too?

Re: Double standard?

The blockbuster ones have been showing up around my area too. I haven't been able to confirm but I would expect they are available to supply the movies that Redbox is not allowed. I guess Redbox signed an agreement so it is not a legal issue with the studios controlling the downstream market but it does seem sketchy.

Re: Re: Double standard?

The blockbuster one that I've seen in my area had Avatar within the first month so yeah, they don't have the Redbox limitation. I wonder why Redbox played ball with the studios concerning this limitation. What was in it for them?

Ripe for competition ....

"... and receive a percentage of revenue from the rentals, as well as a guaranteed amount of space in each Redbox kiosk for its DVDs.

Redbox estimated that it would pay Paramount $575 million over the life of the agreement."

With the drain in income to RedBox from this deal it makes competition an option. Find out the specifics of the deal, cost per rental, time table if the cost per rental fees are reduced like they are with movie theaters, determine if there is a resale clause in the contract. Then turn around and rent at a price point they can not possibly compete with. Sell the used DVD's to increase your profits.

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"What really blows my mind is that they actually tested something without just assuming it was bad."

I ignored it thinking this cant be true!! what is this world coming to? Whats next? RIAA doing a study that not going after record labels customers and reducing the price of a music download increases sales.

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But at least Paramount looked at the results and said "It makes no sense". I can appreciate a company that is willing to make a change in things, review the results, and then go and make changes based on reality.

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You want to know what would be hilarious?

It would make me laugh my A$$ off if Blockbuster went out of business and NetFlix and Redbox then refused to release movies from Warner Bros., Universal and Fox until the 28 day period hits. Would serve them right.

Re: You want to know what would be hilarious?

"The Wall Street Journal’s Mike Spector reports Blockbuster is seeking $150 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its senior bondholders in case the company files for bankruptcy, while also seeking an outside cash infusion that might keep it out of Chapter 11. Clearly, whatever financing deal it can get will determine whether the company slides into bankruptcy now, or can put it off until later."http://blogs.bnet.com/business-news/?p=2762

Re: Re: You want to know what would be hilarious?

I cancelled my Blockbuster account yesterday. I am tired of paying more for a service that cannot provide the level of service its competitors are providing for less cost. I kept getting broken DVDs, or the wrong DVDs in the mail, and suspected that there is no money any more to actually perform quality of service checks on the merchandise. They obviously fired everyone except for the least paid individuals, and now they are so overworked that they cannot keep up. Sad really.